Eternal Ice
by Nemesis dan Impyrean
Summary: Jack tackles a tribe of naga on his own, and in the process loses his arm. This is the beginning of the Guardians learning important things about the newest addition to their team. They are reminded that he is only a child. They are forced to realize he is a veteran in his own right. And they will eventually discover unknown depths to the winter spirit named Jack Frost.
1. Chapter 1

He stared coldly at the spirit before him, a hideous woman who had been luring humans into her grasp. She had a mouth of jagged teeth, and her hands were scaled, almost as if they were gloved. Her upper body was armored, while from her waist there was a serpent's tail, which was as long as he was tall.

Her name didn't matter. She was strong, and breathed fire. She liked to eat humans - not just children, but adults as well. So did the rest of her tribe. He only found them because this particular spirit had gotten careless recently.

She blew a huge gust of flame. Jack had already created spikes and walls of ice, trying to defend himself, and he ducked behind one as she roared. His pulse was calm, because he knew he couldn't die.

Fighting was easy when there was no way to lose.

As soon as the flames faded, he rolled out the other side, staff already shooting a stream of frost. The spirit screeched, waving her tail wildly to disperse the cold. She smashed the ground angrily, making it shake.

Jack was already darting behind her. He slammed his staff into the ground, aiming his power at her soft underbelly. The spikes flew across the ground, tearing into her skin. She screeched again and roared, twisting violently as she set everything in sight on fire.

He crouched behind a thick tree and watched as his icy creations started to melt. They were thick, sure, but no match for the heat the spirit gave off.

So he did the logical thing - when the spirit paused for breath, he leapt out at her and sealed her mouth shut. Her eyes widened as she clawed at him, catching him on the shoulder. Jack grunted as he skipped out of range, and he watched as the spirit attempted to pry the frozen gag off.

It must hurt, he knew. She and her tribe must have wandered far to end up in such a wintry climate, and though they'd managed to find a cave for themselves, the cold was not their friend. It probably burned to have her lips utterly frozen.

Jack hesitated, and her tail whipped around, slamming him into one of the rocks. Gasping, he scrambled out of reach before she could try hit him again. Her body was writhing now, and her efforts to tear away the ice were frantic. Jack stumbled to his feet, brushing off his pants.

He blasted her with power, freezing her solid with one hit. Blinking once, he looked around to see if he could pick up any tracks.

The battlefield was torn to pieces though, and the likelihood of that was low. He took to air, riding the wind high. There weren't any obvious caves, but there was a mountain nearby. "Take me to their cave," he murmured to the wind. Jack was dropped down nearby, holding his staff at the ready.

He found himself facing a large, gaping hole. A ledge jutted out above it, protecting it from the snowfall. Warmth came from it's depths, so he thought there was a good chance he was in the right place.

After thanking the wind, he crept in quietly.

There were large rocks littering the tunnel as he walked, and he made full use of the cover they provided as a soft glow began to illuminate his surroundings. Jack breathed as silently as possible as he hugged the wall, seeing the spirits gathered around a campfire. Many of them huddled close to the heat, breathing on it once in a while to stoke the flames.

They were clearly comfortable, the women and men wearing light clothing. He saw armor stacked against the wall, and the remains of their food against another wall. None were left alive, and it was clear to see what they'd been eating.

Jack felt uncomfortably warm. He shifted his weight and assessed the situation. There were only a few - the tribe was very small, containing at least five spirits. There was a sort of shelter constructed in the corner, and he briefly wondered how many were inside.

Then he dismissed it. It could only hold two, perhaps three at the most if they squeezed. Who knew what it was for, but it didn't increase the threat. He gripped his staff in determination and concentrated his power on the campfire.

A blast of snow stifled the flames, putting out the light. The spirits roared in alarm, their bouts of flame making it easy for Jack to spot them. He fired off a few shards of ice, hearing them strike their hard, scaly body. Some seemed to find their way into the spirits fleshy upper body, as there were a few screeches of pain.

He quickly iced the floor as well, hoping to throw them off balance. Before he could finish doing so, one of the spirits loomed out of the dark. The snake man's face was contorted with anger as he blew an inferno directly in Jack's face, burning him.

Coughing, he ducked under the spirit's claws as they swiped at him, darting backwards.

Jack could feel his lungs seizing up. Ignoring the feeling, he fired attacks in quick succession, freezing the spirit to the ground. Before it could free itself, he froze the spirit's upper torso, causing it to collapse the ground.

Two more slithered around their frozen comrade, their hateful gazes fixed on Jack. He moved to cover his face as they opened their mouths, but instead of breathing fire they merely hissed. Taking advantage, he leveled his staff and prepared to freeze them both.

Claws grabbed his arms and wrenched them back, squeezing painfully. Jack cried out as the spirit who'd snuck up behind him sank her teeth into his shoulder, digging through his hoodie to break the skin. She squeezed his arms harder, trying to get him to drop his staff.

He pulled out of her grasp and pressed his back to the wall, watching as she spat out his arm in disgust. Blood dripped from where his left arm used to be, but he iced it over in a second.

The three snake women stared at him, and he stared back. He counted them mentally and wondered where the fifth spirit was. He slammed his staff into the ground, releasing a biting cold into the air. Spikes of ice shot out around him, the equivalent of saying, do you really wanna continue?

They hesitated, then as one reared up as high as the tunnel ceiling would allow. They roared, blasting him with a torrent of fire.

Jack charged forward, whacking one of the snake ladies across the face with his staff. Her head was encased in ice, and muffled screams came from her as her fire was cut off. One snake lady tried to claw him, but he ducked behind the third and froze her entire tail to the ground.

He couldn't summon up enough energy to freeze them in one go, considering how spent he already was, coupled with the heat left over from the spirits' campfire.

He leapt to the ground, just avoiding the snake lady's tail as she attempted to flatten him.

Breathing carefully, Jack blasted the first, covering her in ice to the waist. Her claws were stuck in midair, caught in the act of trying to break the ice around her head. The snake lady thrashed once, twice, then she hit the floor and didn't move. He dodged as one spirit blew fire in his direction.

Both snake ladies were clearly tired. The spirit with her tail frozen to the ground was trying to melt the ice, so he sealed her mouth shut.

Just one left.

But where was the fifth?

Jack backed up as the spirit advanced, worn out and moving slowly. He glimpsed the shelter in the shadows of the cave, but was quickly forced to pay attention to the snake lady as she spat a stream of fire at him. Then she lunged, claws pinning him to the ground.

He twisted, getting behind her. He bound her with ropes of ice and leaned back, allowing himself to sigh. His pulse had raced a little somewhere in the middle of that, and he was tired.

A hiss brought him back to his senses. Holding his staff tightly, Jack crept into the main cavern. The shelter seemed to be made of a canvas hung on thick branches, with a curtain of the material for a door. Bracing himself, Jack used his staff to shove aside the cloth.

One spirit hissed angrily, positioned defensively in front of another lying on the ground. He thrashed his tail angrily, but didn't move away from the snake lady, who groaned.

She was pregnant.

"Oh no you don't," Jack growled. He'd seen what happened when spirits who ate humans had children. The young didn't know any better. Sometimes the spirits destroyed an entire town simply to feed their babies and keep them safe. It happened less often nowadays, but it still happened.

He swung his staff in a circle, shooting off icicles. The snake man blocked the ones that came close to the snake lady, while the rest ripped through the shelter walls. Jack narrowed his eyes, wondering why it wasn't breathing fire.

Then it clicked.

They were good with heat, but direct flames? It must not want to set the shelter on fire. It could hurt the snake lady. Jack blasted the two of them with waves of snow and frost, then coated the snake man's face with ice.

To his surprise, it smashed the ice immediately, letting the fragments fall to the ground. He was either too weak to form proper ice anymore, or this spirit was stronger than the others. Neither option was good. Jack crouched down, his eyes flicking around for an opportunity.

However, the spirit roared and charged, claws outstretched. Jack rolled to the side, but the snake man swept his tail through the air, smashing Jack into the cave wall. He groaned, catching himself before he fell on his face.

Now that Jack was against the cave wall and away from the flammable cloth and snake lady, the spirit apparently had no qualms about breathing a torrent of fire at him. It was strong as well, since the snake man was fresh and not worn out by battling.

Jack lifted his staff, deflecting as much of the heat as possible. He twirled his staff as the flames subsided.

As the snake man inhaled for another roar, he formed small shards of ice, shooting them into the spirit's soft mouth. The snake man choked, as the shards had razor sharp edges. Thrashing, the spirit nearly hit the snake lady, who cried out in pain and fear.

Dancing around the convulsing spirit, Jack aimed his staff. He could not freeze her entire body, but he concentrated on her belly, pushing the cold deep into her womb. Layer upon layer of ice formed inside and out, causing the snake lady to shriek.

Before the spirits could recover, he stole out into the winter air. The wind embraced him as it carried him into the sky, far above the snowing clouds. Jack allowed himself to relax as he balanced on the breeze, letting it ruffle his hair. Then it brushed against the stump of his left shoulder.

He looked at it with regret. He hadn't had time to get his arm, and it wasn't safe to now. If he'd been able to, he could have iced the limb back onto his body, and it would've healed in a week or so. As it was, he'd have to get used to having one hand for quite a while.

At least he hadn't lost his dominant hand. He twirled his staff absently as he flew, until another thought struck him. The Guardians would want to know what had happened.

Jack frowned. They'd be nosy, too, and might not appreciate how he killed off the spirit's unborn children. It was harsh and ruthless, true, but better in the long run. If that tribe remained weakened, perhaps they'd move away. They didn't eat only humans. They just ate meat.

And humans happened to be the easiest prey around.

Humans were a little more important in his book. Jack hoped the Guardians would understand. Actually, what he really hoped for was that the next meeting would be far, far away, and that he'd never have to bring the subject up at all.

* * *

Bunny wasn't too fond of winter.

He was on better terms with Jack of course, and he didn't particularly hate the season anymore. It was just that it meant his feet froze everytime he stepped outside, and his eggs had to be painted quickly before Easter came along.

They were magical, yes.

But they were still perishables.

And so many of them ended up spoiling, it was a miracle he had any by the time Easter came around. He painted like crazy the month before spring, and sometimes spring wasn't there on Easter Sunday.

Sometimes all that came was snow.

Who wanted to search out eggs in the snow? Sure, plenty of kids still want to anyway, but it wasn't comfortable and Bunny just hated the complications of hiding eggs in snow.

So, no, he wasn't too fond of winter.

But he was always outvoted on the meeting place, so whenever there was a Guardian's meeting, they always went to North's workshop. At the North Pole. In eternal snow. There wasn't a smidgen of warmth, not even in summer! Just cold, cold, and cold. Don't even get him started on the elves.

He set down the egg he'd been working on and stretched. His paws were cramping - he'd been painting eggs for a few days now, but he couldn't stop. He dipped his brush in the river and picked up a fresh egg, giving it a basic coat of green. Once that dried, he could add the designs.

Just the basic coats for the first half of the month. Then proper painting the second half. The extras would be painting themselves in the meantime, using the various flowers and rivers that had preset designs.

Maybe by now he should just send all of them through that process, but he didn't want to end up like Tooth, who rarely did hands-on work anymore, or North, who spent his days secluded in his workshop. Bunny enjoyed getting out and being inspired by nature for new designs. He liked holding the brush in his paws. He liked knowing a child was going to find that egg and it was going to make their day.

So call him old-fashioned. He did enjoy the personal touch Jack brought into their lives, even if he couldn't stand the kid at first. He finished up the coat of paint, letting the egg down on the ground.

A few eggs scampered up to him, hopping up and down frantically. "What is it?" he asked. The eggs shook their little heads and hopped a few more times.

An aurora? Huh. He wondered what the emergency was for North to call them together. He thumped his paw, diving down into the tunnel that opened up. As he raced along, he remembered the time he'd raced through this tunnel only to be told there was a new Guardian.

Boy, had that not been fun. He'd been dead set against it, and why not? They'd been fine for centuries, longer even. It came as a further surprise that it had been Jack.

Thank god it wasn't the groundhog. At one point he would've preferred it the other way around, but not anymore.

His nose twitched as the smell of snow filtered through the tunnel. It was always sunlit and warm in his Warren, but his tunnels were affected by what was above. As it sloped upwards, he tried to ready himself for the cold.

He landed in the snow and shivered. "Blimey, it's freezing!"

Taking off, he grumbled to himself about how his ears and paws were freezing. He couldn't even feel his feet! Why couldn't North have his workshop somewhere nice and warm, like a beach? Or a desert. Alright, maybe not a desert, that was a little too hot even for his tastes. But still.

He made his way into the main hall and darted over to the fire, sighing in relief as feeling returned to his paws. And nose. And just about everything else, really.

"Eggnog?" North asked, offering a cup.

"Er, no," Bunny declined, knowing full well what was in that eggnog. "What's the trouble this time, North? I'm freezing my tail off in this weather, and I've got eggs to paint!"

North said solemnly, "Would not call you here if was not important, no? But first, let us wait for the others! Then we will talk!" He patted Bunny on the back, almost sending the Guardian of Hope into the flames, before walking away, calling for more cookies and eggnog.

Those words would probably be more convincing if North hadn't once used the aurora to ask the Guardians whether red or orange looked better on a stuffed dinosaur. Tooth had chewed him out bad for that one, and though North hadn't done it again, you just never knew. Rolling his eyes at North's craziness, Bunny sat down at the table.

He wished he'd thought to bring an egg and a paintbrush. He could've gotten some painting done while he waited. As fast as Tooth and Sandy were, it would probably still take them a bit.

And Jack - he was tumbling through the window, landing easily on the backside of a chair. "Hey, Bunny!" the youth greeted him cheerfully.

Bunny meant to respond, but his eyes were drawn to Jack's left sleeve. Or the lack of it. He also seemed to be missing the arm accompanying that side. "What happened to you?" he said, alarmed.

Jack looked a little worried, but he tried to brush it off. "You know, I got in a fight. Lost my arm," he said. He seemed about to say more, but Bunny glared fiercely at him. "You don't just lose an arm, mate. Someone ripped it off. Who?"

"I don't know who."

"What do you mean, you don't know who?! It's a freaking arm, you'd think you'd have noticed when you lost it!"

"I meant," Jack said testily, "I don't know who they were. I'm not an expert on which spirits are which, and I don't know many of them personally. I don't make a habit of hanging out with spirits who rip my arm off anyway!"

Bunny tried to calm down. "Sorry. I'm just worried about you."

"Right." Jack stood and watched as Tooth and Sandy came in, along with North. "It's okay," the youth muttered under his breath. Bunny's sensitive ears twitched as Jack added, "I'm pretty sure they're going to be worse."

The three Guardians were chatting, but as soon as Tooth saw Jack's arm she flew to his side, almost too fast to see. Her wings buzzed in agitation as she asked, "Are you alright? What happened? Did someone hurt you? Of course they hurt you, your arm's missing! Why's your arm missing? Did you get into a fight? Who did it?"

"Whoa, slow down, Tooth," Jack said, backing off slightly.

North frowned, and Sandy looked worried as they came closer. "Is true. Jack, who hurt you?"

"I don't think that's important right now," Jack pointed out. "It happened a while ago. There's an emergency going on right now. What's the emergency, North?"

"Ah, right." North looked at Bunny and Jack before saying, "As I was telling Sandy and Tooth, a tribe of naga that settled in the northern region recently. They've been attacking nearby villages. One of the yetis found them and informed me about them just yesterday."

"Why did you wait to tell us today?" Bunny asked.

North frowned. "Well, the yeti reported that they were very small, very weak. They even looked injured, as if they'd been attacked only a short while ago. I was hesitant to report threat immediately. Besides," his face turned sheepish, "yetis invented new cookie recipe. Could not resist."

With a roll of his eyes, Sandy formed a small clock ticking. North shrugged. "Was not serious! They had not taken in a moon. Unusual, very strange."

The four Guardians looked at each other blankly, uncertain of what to think. The naga were largely carnivorous, and for them to live nearby villages without preying upon them for a moon? Especially after having done so in the past?

Jack watched the silent questions pass between them and sighed. Resigning himself to his fate, he raised his right hand as if he were in school. "Um, sorry? I think that's my fault."

Four pairs of eyes looked his way. "Your fault?" Tooth echoed, her face curious.

He shifted slightly, sitting down on the back of the chair and pressing his feet against it for balance. He used his right hand to balance his staff across his lap as he nodded. "Yeah. I kinda suppressed them recently. A month or so ago." He smiled brightly, watching as different emotions flashed across the Guardians' faces.

Bunny was the first to speak.

"A month ago?!" he shouted, pointing a boomerang at him. "Why didn't you ask for help?! Naga are bloody and dangerous, and you could've gotten hurt!"

North patted him on the shoulder. "Is brave, no? Good Guardian. But, Jack, he is right. You shouldn't have attacked them on your own." He pointed to Jack's missing arm. "You lost your arm."

"Oh, sweetie," Tooth said gently. She fluttered her wings. "You know you can always ask us for help."

Sandy nodded in agreement.

Jack held in a sigh. He knew he could ask them for help. But they didn't seem to get it. He was strong. He was incredibly strong and fast. If they were really talking about who was helping who, wouldn't he be the one who was helping? Wasn't he the one who had to join their fight?

He picked up his staff, resting it on his shoulder. "I appreciate it, guys. So, North, could you get me a new hoodie? This one's really worn out."

The Russian laughed. "Of course!" he proclaimed. He called over one of the yeti and gave him instructions. Meanwhile, Bunny went back to the fire, letting the heat sink into his fur. He just couldn't believe it - did the kid seriously pick a fight with a tribe of naga? And lose only an arm?

Immediately a pang of regret shot through him. Why didn't the kid ask for help? Even one extra Guardian would've been good, and then he wouldn't have lost his arm. Heck, it probably would've been a walk in the park with how Jack had handled the tribe on his own.

"Sorry for yelling at you."

Bunny jumped and turned to see Jack standing a few feet behind him. He smiled awkwardly. "It's fine. Besides, I was the first to yell anyways." He rubbed behind his ears, uncertain how to word his next words.

Then he gave up. He was a front-and-center kind of Guardian. Tact just wasn't his style.

"Why didn't you ask for help?" he asked bluntly.

"Because I could handle it."

"So could any of us," Bunny said. He glanced over at the other Guardians, who were immersed in discussing something. "I could. Tooth could. North could. Heck, Sandy would probably wipe them out quickly. But it's not easy for us, either, even if it's within our abilities."

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying we'd ask for help too." Bunny shrugged. "I guess you don't have to if you don't want to." He paused as a yeti approached, a new hoodie in hand.

Jack perked up. "Hey, thanks!" He grabbed the hoodie and immediately wiggled out of his own, leaving him only in a thin shirt. Faded burns covered his body, and silvery scars crisscrossed his skin. It took everything Bunny had to not react. Instead he massaged his foot as Jack pulled on the new hoodie.

"You'd help me, though, if I needed it, right?" Bunny asked.

Jack looked shocked. "Of course! But why would you need my help?"

"You were the showpo - er, power horse in our battle against Pitch." Bunny made eye contact with Jack. "You're real powerful. Just don't leave us on our own, alright?"

Jack blinked rapidly, then nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

He remembered a promise.

But as Jack rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a gout of flame, he decided that action was more important than thinking. He rose to his feet, watching as the dragon turned back for another shot at him. It was mediocre, as dragons go. Scaled and large and - of course - breathed fire.

He suspected it was born from a European myth. The others usually had manes and antlers. Or had no legs. Or had a million different features, but in the end it didn't matter where it came from.

It was here.

It was trying to eat him.

Jack wondered how he was supposed to get in on the ground. He analyzed the situation. He could, of course, use the wind. However, that was only to help him in the air, and at the moment he knew he was safer on the ground.

Being in the air meant having no cover.

And he might be viewed as a real threat. Right now, the dragon was toying with him, testing him. While he didn't particularly like that, he thought that it was good he could play a weaker level for the moment. It gave him time to think and plan. Jack shifted his grip on his staff.

If he could gather enough energy to freeze the dragon's core - his belly, his breath of fire - then he might be able to take him down.

The problem was, he couldn't. It was verging on spring now, with winter blizzards fading into cool breezes and grass poking up through the melting slush of snow. He was a winter spirit. Direct warmth affected him, but so did the change of the seasons. His power was waning.

The dragon hovered in midair, wings beating powerfully as it opened it's maw. A jet of flame shot at him. Instead of dodging, Jack spun his staff while calling on the wind to deflect the heat.

It was still hot.

But Jack decided that maybe, just maybe, he should run. Live to fight another day.

Of course, he couldn't. The dragon was a little too close to the nearby towns, one of which seemed to not believe in advancements and was entirely in the Dark Ages, wooden huts and all. So running was out of the question. Instead, he hopped on the wind and let it carry him up into the clouds, watching the dragon crane it's neck to follow him.

Then the world was reduced to grey and white. Definitely a cloudy day, so maybe he could use that to his advantage. Then a fountain of fire shot past him, singing the sleeve flapping from his hoodie.

Or maybe not.

Jack gathered up the cold and waved his staff all around him, crystallizing the water in the clouds. Collecting it. Going beyond snowfall, straight into hail. Then he focused, shooting it all at the dragon.

Most of it shattered against the beasts scaly hide. The rest melted as he roared in fury, fire billowing from his mouth endlessly.

In an instant, Jack had formed a small, compressed blade made from ice, and threw it down the dragon's throat. Ordinary ice wouldn't be able to stand the temperature, but with the amount of energy he'd put into the blade, it managed to sink deeply into the dragon's soft throat.

The dragon did not roar.

It did not shriek, or scream, or anything that Jack had expected it to do.

It laughed.

Not in the way a human would, but the deep, grumbling coughs had an undeniable edge of humor to them. It looked up at him, it's tongue flicking out as it hissed. It stretched out it's wings and pushed down, rising quickly. In a minute it would be on him.

The wings caught his attention. Jack refocused, looking at the leathery appendages that were lifting the dragon into the air. They were thick, certainly, but definitely weaker than the rest of it.

He gathered up his power and let the wind release him.

He dropped like a stone, frosting the wing at the last moment and crashing through as if it were made of glass. He immediately called the wind, swooping low beneath the dragon's belly and emerging on the other side. It was twisting wildly, trying to react, but Jack wouldn't let it.

Instead, he ripped holes throughout the entire wingspan, tearing it apart until all that was left was a skeletal frame with tatters of skin attached. Hot, thick blood dripped from each wound, making it a little more difficult for Jack to navigate his way above the dragon.

It groaned as it crashed to the ground, making a dent in the grassy hillside. The dragon roared, releasing waves of fire in all directions as it contorted, clearly searching for Jack.

He hid behind a sturdy boulder and took stock of himself. He still had enough energy to hold his own, but it was quickly running out. The flames beginning to die down as the dragon ran out of breath. Jack searched for every scrap of energy, pooling it until he felt his power seething beneath his skin.

All or nothing, he supposed. He let the energy swell a little more until it felt like it would break him. Then he rode the wind straight up, giving him a view of the dragon.

He pointed his staff as the dragon inhaled, and let the cold rip through the staff. It slammed against the dragon, freezing it's jaws, around it's flaring nostrils. Jack could see his power spark and snap as it crackled over the dragon's body. It froze the entire dragon's head, coating a little ways past the chin and down the neck.

It crashed to the ground, the entire body going limp.

It did not take as much power as freezing the dragon's core would have. To freeze a place of constant heat took too much power. Still, the effort left him exhausted. Breathing heavily, Jack landed lightly on the ground, leaning on his staff.

Was the dragon really down? Usually it would at least be -

Later, he would blame how tired he was. He would argue that usually dragons, at least European dragons, behaved like mere beasts and were not tricky or cunning. How was he supposed to have known that this one was different? That it would play dead, only to lash out at the last second?

That it would reach out blindly with it's claws, tearing a large gash in his stomach?

He grunted in pain, skipping back out of reach. There was no way he was fighting back - he literally had no energy left. "Take me away, wind," he said, and the wind complied. It wrapped around his tired, battered body, lifting him above the clouds.

The dragon was defeated. At least weakened to the point where it wasn't an immediate threat to the surrounding people. It had no fire, and it had no sight. It had no way to eat, and it could just barely breathe.

So Jack left.

* * *

Baby Tooth hefted the tooth in her hands. An incisor from 51 East Street, fallen out of the mouth of a little girl. She'd been very cute, still really small. Baby Tooth smiled at the memory, thinking about tucking the quarter beneath her pillow. She loved seeing the children like that!

A wave splashed up in front of her, making her squeal as she fluttered higher to avoid it. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was close! She couldn't get wet, and if she dropped the tooth! It would be horrible!

She supposed the simplest thing would be to fly higher, but she was a little tired. Baby Tooth laughed at herself as she flew a ways up. At least enough to avoid the waves. The sea was the fastest way back to the Tooth Palace, and she wanted to hurry! Her mother was depending on her!

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice anything different about the sky around her. She didn't notice the body falling past her.

But she definitely noticed when the resulting splash almost caught her. With an alarmed squeak, she swerved to avoid the water and hovered, confused. Baby Tooth clutched the incisor closer, looking around. Nothing seemed different. Did a fish jump out of the water or something?

With a sigh, she started to turn away when a flash of white caught her eye. She shrieked. Jack! What was Jack doing, facedown in the middle of the ocean?! Why wasn't he moving? Was he breathing?

Any tiredness was forgotten. Baby Tooth gripped her tooth with determination, zipping over the ocean as fast as possible.

Her mother would know what to do.

Her mother made everything better.

Baby Tooth sped into the Tooth Palace, depositing her precious cargo into it's container before going to the central area. There her mother fluttered, giving out instructions to the millions of her sisters that went out into the world. Going to get the teeth of other children.

She flew in front of her mother, chattering frantically. Her mother saw her and gave a few more directions before asking her what was wrong.

In response, Baby Tooth told her.

She told her how Jack had fallen from the sky.

She told her how she had needed to leave him.

What could she have done? She was small and tiny, and couldn't lift him or help him. Her weak wings wouldn't have even nudged his weight, and she'd been carrying an important memory. So she'd left him, but that had been a long time ago. Too much time. She was worried, she was panicking. Her mother had to save him. She had to help.

Her mother was outside almost the instant she finished speaking.

Baby Tooth followed quickly, worried out of her mind. Her mother let her, though her wings beat almost too fast for Baby Tooth to keep up. Yet even with all that speed, Baby Tooth couldn't help worrying.

What if they were too late?

What if Jack drowned?

Then her mother was lifting the boy and Baby Tooth choked back another cry as she saw something else she'd failed to notice. Where was his arm?! Her mother already seemed to know - of course, she'd gone to the recent Guardian meeting - and merely lifted him, worry plain on her face.

They were both worried. Baby Tooth hovered before his face, seeing that he was unconscious. Water dripped from his hair, his hoodie, and, no, oh no, where was his staff? Baby Tooth tried to ask her mother, but she was already carrying Jack back.

Baby Tooth looked down, surveying the ocean's waters. There was no sign of the wooden staff, though it should be floating on the surface. It was wood, after all. Did that mean it had drifted somewhere? Baby Tooth knew that was bad. She'd witnessed what had happened when Pitch had broken it.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned towards home, following in the wake of her mother. Jack's health was the most important thing, and she had no way of finding the staff.

She flew close to her mother and perched on her shoulder, telling her about the staff.

In reply, her mother nodded, but said the same thing she was thinking - that they had to take care of Jack first.

Baby Tooth fretted and worried.

She missed the piece of wood drifting past them as they went, hidden by the constant motion of the sea.

* * *

Jack woke up instantly. He'd trained himself long ago not to wake up the normal way. No, there was no room in his life for the grogginess and disorientation left over from sleeping. Instead, he opened his eyes, fully alert and ready to fight.

Only, there was nothing to fight.

He sat up, a slight wince his only acknowledgement of the gaping wound in his stomach. It was only a flesh wound, as well as iced over. It could wait while he figured out where he was. He slipped out of the bed he had been placed in, walking over to the window.

His first clue should've been that everything was pink and gold.

However, he didn't realize he was in the Tooth Palace until he saw the towering walls of rock, and the little tooth fairies flitting past his window. He blinked, then clambered out the window, balancing easily on the thin ledge. He had to find Tooth. He couldn't find his staff anywhere.

He ignored the cheerful and concerned chirping of the tooth fairies as they spotted him, choosing to leap agilely from ledges to balconies, making his way to the central area. When Jack landed lightly behind her, Tooth spun and beamed. "Jack! You're awake!"

"Oh. Yeah," he replied, a little thrown off by her enthusiastic greeting. Then he relaxed and smiled. "Thanks for picking me up, Tooth. Nice to wake up in a bed for once."

Her face fell at his statement. "Oh, sweetie, I wish you were more careful. What happened to you?"

He shrugged. "I got caught up in a fight. Have you seen my staff?"

"No, I'm sorry," Tooth apologized. She gave a few instructions to her fairies before telling him, "Your staff had disappeared by the time I came, and we didn't have the time to look for it. Honestly, I have no idea where it is." She smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll find it."

Jack sighed. "Can I catch a ride home?"

She blinked. "Oh! Of course! But, um, I'm kind of - no, Middle Street, not Madeline Street! - I'm kind of busy right now. Would you mind waiting a bit? There'll be a lull soon, I'm sure."

"Nah, that's okay," Jack told her, grinning. "I appreciate the thought though." He waved at her once before hopping off the edge, sliding down the spire to land lightly on one of the rocks. He stretched briefly before eyeing the landscape before him, made up of jutting mountains and forests taking root wherever they can.

He admired the view for a moment. Then the wind whistled around him impatiently and he laughed. "I should probably get going," he agreed.

He knew he'd dropped unconscious somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. That explained why Baby Tooth had run into him. She'd probably found him during a delivery.

Without his staff, he had no way to cross the vast ocean unless he -

Heck.

Why not?

He dug around in the pocket of his hoodie, pulling out the possession he'd 'borrowed' from North's a few visits back. It was a snowglobe. He wondered if it could lead him to his staff. He shook it lightly and said, "My staff." Then he tossed it to the ground.

Unfortunately, it just bounced a few times before rolling to a stop. He stooped to pick it up and tossed it from hand to hand, thinking. Where should he go?

He should probably check on the dragon to see if it started rampaging again.

He should probably go to North's and give back the snowglobe, as well as see if the Guardians knew anything about the dragon.

He should go home and try to recover from his fight.

He should do a lot of things, really.

Instead, Jack tossed the snowglobe again and said, "The Warren." The portal opened up, and he stepped through the swirl of light and color. Sunlight and the smell of plants greeted him as he stepped onto the soft grass. It was warm, but magically so, and didn't affect him. It was almost pleasant.

He took a moment to enjoy it before calling out, "Bunny! Hey, are you in here?" He listened, then shouted, "I know you're here, kangaroo!"

"Oi! Could you stop calling me that!"

Jack chuckled quietly as he sat on a moss covered rock with his legs crossed, waiting patiently. Soon enough Bunny came into view, looking slightly irritated. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "And why didn't I sense you come in?"

"It's a funny story, actually," Jack replied. "But first, did you hear about this dragon?"

"A dragon?"

"Yep."

"A dragon."

"Uh huh."

"Jack, please don't tell me you tackled a dragon on your own."

"Okay. I won't tell you."

Bunny groaned, slapping one furry paw to his muzzle. "Why would you tackle a dragon on your - you know what, never mind. Least you didn't lose your other arm or any legs." The rabbit sighed and looked him over. "Incidentally, why are you here? You don't seem to be in pain."

Jack pulled apart the remnants of his hoodie and his shirt, revealing the thick coating of ice he'd placed over his wound. "As a matter of fact, the dragon caught me at the last minute. It's healing, but I was hoping you had some medicine to speed the process along." He grinned disarmingly. "I've got a lot of walking to do. Hard when you have a hole in you."

"Right," Bunny said, unconvinced. He poked the ice. "Melt it. I can't see what I'm dealing with."

Jack obliged, holding back his hiss of pain when the blood started flowing freely again. Bunny grimaced. "Wait here," he said, hopping away.

"I was totally going to go running instead," the youth said sarcastically, just loud enough for Bunny to hear. He settled back down on his rock and considered trying to nap while he waited. But in no time Bunny returned, a bowl of green gooey paste in his paws.

He made Jack take off his jacket and shirt before applying copious amounts of the goo to his wound. It was cold, and Jack sighed in contentment. Then Bunny bound his stomach with cotton bandages, almost too tight for Jack to breathe. "There we go," Bunny said.

"Thanks a lot," Jack said, wriggling back into his shirt and hoodie. It took some time, trying to use only one arm, with Bunny eventually helping him out.

Bunny nodded. He started gathering up his things, but Jack added, "Could you keep an eye out for my staff? It's gone missing."

"Missing?"

"Yeah."

Bunny heaved a sigh. "I'll keep an eye out, mate, but you should probably forget about it. It's as good as gone."

Jack grimaced. "I kinda need that for my powers, you know?" He gestured to himself. "What kind of winter spirit can't make snow or ice, or even fly?" He stood and brushed himself off, looking around. He figured he could take one of the tunnels out.

He started walking towards one, but Bunny pulled him back. "Whoa, not on your nelly! Come on, we're going to North's. At least he'll have room for you to be wandering around."

"But I need to go home!" Jack protested.

"You can go home after we find your staff," Bunny said, tapping his foot. They dropped down into a tunnel, and Bunny easily landed on his feet. Jack fell in a crouch, keeping his balance as well.

He looked very put out, but just grumbled, "Fine."

Bunny had expected to have to stroll along to keep pace with the troublemaker. Instead, Jack was like a bullet, a blur of white shooting past him. Bunny hastily caught up, surprised by the youth's speed and strength.

He filed the thought away for later as sunlit holes and mossy stone passed by, darting over the earthy floor of the tunnel. Soon the telltale cold filtered into the air, and they emerged in the snowy landscape of the North Pole. "It's freezing," Bunny complained.

Jack just laughed. "Last one there's a kangaroo!" he shouted, running lightly over the snow.

"Oh, you don't wanna race a rabbit, mate!" Bunny shot back, ignoring the cold as he pushed himself. His paws dug into the snow as he bounded after the kid. Suddenly, lights flashed across the sky, shining with beautiful colors.

A brilliant aurora borealis.

The two Guardians exchanged looks before running faster, the race forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

"Is emergency!"

"When is it not an emergency?" Bunny grumbled.

Tooth patted his shoulder. "I'm sure it's just the toys being knocked over again," she tried.

"No!" North said. "Is true emergency! Pitch is back!"

"When is Pitch not back?" Jack muttered.

Sandy shrugged.

North spun the globe, indicating a part of the world where there were no lights. "This is his doing. I have seen black sand in the area. He cannot be far!" He looked grimly at the other Guardians. "We must fight him! And defeat him!"

"Yay," Jack said unenthusiastically. He was unprepared for four sets of eyes swiveling to stare at him. "What?"

Bunny shook his head. "You're not coming."

"Yes I am."

"Look, sweetie," Tooth said gently, "You can't fight without your staff. And you're, um, you know. Your arm. It's too dangerous!"

Sandy nodded. He formed images of a snowflake melting, being broken, and getting utterly crushed by a hammer. Then he formed a giant X and formed an arrow pointing at the ground, his message obvious - stay here.

Jack chuckled. "That's not comforting, but guys, I can take care of myself."

Four pairs of eyes looked at him disbelievingly. Bunny crossed his arms. "Uh huh. Then why did I have to patch you up just a minute ago?" He looked determined to keep Jack at the North Pole, as did the others. And honestly, if they didn't agree to take him, that wouldn't be impossible.

Jack thought for a moment.

"You'll take me because you need me," he stated confidently.

"What?"

"You need me," Jack repeated. He explained, "Didn't Manny name me a Guardian because you guys needed help? Against Pitch, no less?"

Tooth blinked, and she seemed to smile. "Yes. We were so lucky you were there."

He pressed his point, "I can fight without my staff. I've done it before - it's just been a while. I won't get into the thick of things, and I promise not to fight rashly. But I'm a Guardian too, right? And you'll all be there anyway."

"Yes," North conceded. "Would not be terribly dangerous."

Tooth looked worried. "But didn't you just get into a fight?" she asked. "Are you really well enough to battle again?"

"No," Bunny insisted. "He's not!"

"Winter is never weak," Jack said. He held out his hand, just because his friends apparently needed a demonstration, and let a bit of his power leak through. Just a bit. Just a small crack in the walls he'd built around his core; the walls that made up his core.

A foolish mistake, of course. As soon as the snowflake took form in his palm, the desire to let the rest flooding out forced him to close his eyes. He fought back the wave of power that assaulted him, sensing the break in his barriers.

When he reopened his eyes, he was a little irritated to see that the Guardians were looking at the snowflake with doubtful eyes.

Alright, so a snowflake wasn't exactly a weapon.

Fine.

Jack took a step back, leaning against the wall. "Stay by the fire," he warned the other Guardians. Bunny protested, but the others dragged him to the other side of the hall. He closed his eyes, feeling for the power. He didn't release it, not exactly, but he let it flow out steadily.

And flow.

And flow.

The crackle of ice filled his ears. Frost coated everything, and for a long moment he was tempted to let it take over -

Then he stopped and pulled it back, all at once. Jack opened his eyes and, though he was dizzy from abruptly shutting off his power, he smiled easily. He could see that most of the hall was covered in thick, white frost, everything beautifully crystallized. The breath of the Guardians fogged in the air, the clearest sign that the cold had fully permeated the room.

"See?" he said nonchalantly. "Are we taking the sleigh? 'Cause we should probably get going already." He waited for a second, then added, "You know, with Pitch being back and all."

North was the first to come to life, nodding and calling out for the yeti to prepare the sleigh. There was respect in the Russian's eyes as he glanced back at Jack before hurrying away to oversee the preparations himself. Maybe fear as well. Jack looked at the other Guardians and was gratified to see the respect there as well, even if it was in varying degrees.

Then Bunny scowled. "Bloody showpony," the rabbit grumbled, hopping away.

Jack chuckled a bit as he followed the others, watching as the yetis scrambled about trying to harness the reindeer and check the sleigh.

One of the yetis looked up in panic as they approached, then frantically called out to it's friends. They worked furiously, but Jack knew they wouldn't make it. And sure enough, North jumped into the driver seat, the sleigh creaking alarmingly under his weight. "Hurry, hurry!" he said cheerfully, grabbing Bunny by the scruff and tossing him in. "We have all day!"

"It's 'we don't have all day,' mate," Bunny groaned as he picked himself up. Sandy grinned and formed an image of an upside-down A as he sat beside the rabbit.

Tooth frowned. "You shouldn't laugh at his English," she scolded.

"Hey!" Bunny complained. "I help plenty. It's Sandy who's doing the teasing."

Sandy raised an eyebrow, then formed an image of a kangaroo, then of the continent of Australia.

"So long as they don't help drink my vodka, yes?" North chuckled, cracking the reins. Jack held onto his seat as the sleigh careened forward, winding crazily through the long tunnel of ice. He grinned a little as he listened to his friends bicker good-naturedly.

* * *

"Proklyatyye teni na kryshakh!"

"We don't all speak Russian, North!" Tooth reprimanded as she punched through several nightmares, getting covered in the glittering, black dust.

North growled. "Am aware of that!" He sliced through a nightmare before shouting, "I am going to rooftops!" Without another word he vanished into the chimney, appearing in another twenty feet away. He was just in time to destroy a few nightmares that had been trying to creep into the house from above.

Jack watched silently. In truth, he'd been fighting as well, but the others had started fighting in a manner where they tried to protect him rather than aiming for the nightmares themselves. As a result, he'd removed himself from the fight.

Now he sat there, agast at what he saw.

The Guardians fought entirely individually. Sure, they helped each other out once in a while. But they didn't entirely work in tandem - which explained why Sandy had gone so long without help the time Pitch had nearly killed him.

Luckily, it seemed this time there was no Pitch. Only nightmares, which were taken care of easily.

When the battle was over and they had flown back to the workshop, he told them plainly, "You are horrible teammates."

Sandy was quicker on the uptake than the others. He laughed silently before forming an image of puzzle pieces smashing together, but never quite fitting.

"Exactly," Jack proclaimed. "You guys simply aren't working as a team. You catch each other when you fall, but you don't put the effort into utilizing each other's strengths! Seriously, how have you guys survived this long?"

A bundle of sticks made out of sand was carefully separated into four piles, each one promptly smashed by a tooth, a boomerang, a sword, and a whip.

Jack nodded. "Your enemies are just as disorganized."

Sandy gave him a thumbs up.

"We do not understand," North interrupted. Bunny looked irritated, and Tooth appeared lost as her eyes darted between Sandy and Jack as if they were speaking a language she didn't understand. Which wasn't possible, since she was the Tooth Fairy and spoke almost seven thousand languages.

Sandy started forming images to explain, but they flashed by so fast that eventually he gave up and let Jack explain.

The winter spirit sighed as he tried to think of the right way to word it. Finally he shrugged. "Here, I'll demonstrate it instead. Tooth, Bunny, and North - you guys go on that side of the hall. Sandy and I will play the opposing team. You guys just fight like normal, alright? Sandy, let's go in the next room real quick."

He pulled the Guardian of Dreams out the door without waiting for a reply, shutting the door behind them.

Eyebrow raised, Sandy crossed his arms and waited.

Jack shrugged. "Come on, it'll be fun. Besides, I'm almost positive they're going to try to think up a strategy. I'm almost just as positive they won't get close to what I'm trying to prove they don't have." He stretched, feeling himself grow - well, not excited. Maybe calm was the right word, in anticipation of the battle to come.

He felt something crack in him. Jack hissed, ignoring Sandy's look of concern as he realized what had happened. Something or someone had broken his staff.

Served him right for relying on it for so long.

Bunny shouted something, probably along the lines of 'hurry up,' making Jack look at the closed door with unfocused eyes. He ripped himself back to the present. "I guess they're waiting on us," he said unsteadily. He looked down at Sandy, who had moved past concern and now looked uncertain about the mock battle they were about to execute.

Sandy formed an image of a dam, then of it bursting into snowflakes, thus letting a small flood of sand flow through.

"I'm fine," Jack said dismissively. "Can you whip up a sandstorm?"

Sandy nodded.

"Cool. It'll hurt a bit, but it'll help with disorientation and lower the visibility. Let's see… I could frost the ground beneath them to help make it slippery. Tooth can fly, but with all the sand who knows if she'll be able to. She will? Well, she can't sense us any better in the air."

His musings were cut short when Sandy formed an image of bunny ears, then of a nose.

Jack shook his head. "Bunny's got good senses, I know. If we could throw him off - he relies mostly on sound and smell, right?" He thought for another minute.

He told his plan to Sandy, who soon sported an evil grin of his own. "Let's go," Jack said, throwing the door open.

A glimpse of the three Guardians near the fireplace - which had been put out - was all they saw before golden sand filled the hall, churning like a storm. Jack asked the wind to help make it unpredictable before he and Sandy shared a glance. Then they separated, vanishing instantly.

Bunny, North, and Tooth separated as well, though that was more of a blunder than a deliberate move. Bunny covered his mouth and squinted, irritated at how Sandy had let himself get talked into this.

Seriously, the Guardian should've known better than to indulge Jack in his pranks!

His ears twitched, trying to listen beyond the howling wind and constant shifting of the sands. Clever, trying to cover up everything with the sandstorm. Tooth was probably somewhere in the rafters, completely flustered. Even North was probably caught unawares.

However, when something crept up on him smelling of snow and ice, he smirked, turning to whack it with his boomerang. Hah! He fought perfectly fine! The kid was just spouting nonsense -

Bunny froze as he realized his boomerang had hit something very solid, the faintest sound of cracking reaching his sensitive ears.

"What the?" he said, taking a step back.

Instantly he slipped and fell on his back, his shoulder blades hitting the ground hard. No, not the ground, ice. The sneaky brat had covered the whole floor in ice! The surface was slick and smooth, too; his paws couldn't get any friction on it.

He growled, the sound rumbling in the back of his throat.

Fine.

Bunny could still remember approximately where the table was. He dug into the ice with his boomerangs and flipped his whole body forward, gratified when he felt the familiar edges of the table beneath his paws. It was at least easier to grip than the ice, though the cold frost stubbornly refused to melt under his touch.

When something came flying out at him from the whirling sands, he instinctively raised his boomerang, only to find a figure comically draped over his weapon.

What the - what was it?

It was about the size and shape of Jack, with similar features, but it's face was blank for indentions where the eyes should be. Almost like a mask. It's body was translucent with a tinge of blue. Bunny slammed it into the table, watching as it burst into sparkles of magic, which quickly faded away.

He frowned. Then quickly twisted, fighting off another specter as it tried to get the jump on him. "Oh, no you don't," he muttered, slashing it into pieces.

A whip curled around his hind leg and yanked him backward, forcing him to spin on his paw in order to cut the rope of sand away. It seemed Sandy was making his move, and Bunny briefly wondered how Tooth and North were doing. Then he dismissed his worries. They were fine.

Instead, he punched through a figure that he was fairly certain wasn't Sandy. His suspicions were confirmed when it broke apart easily, dissolving into the growing sandstorm.

Bunny spun and kicked out as the specters seem to increase in numbers suddenly, eerie hands reaching out for him out of the sand. Each time they burst apart, the smell of winter filled his nose, the magic falling into his fur like snowflakes.

He did well for a short while, before he realized his feet were going numb.

After throwing his boomerang and effectively taking out several specters, Bunny looked down and realized that the frost was still there. The significance of that floored him. How long ago had Jack frozen the hall? A few hours ago? Was he maintaining it, or -

A whip shot past his muzzle and he cursed. This was not the time for spacing out. He grabbed the whip and yanked it, coming face to face with Sandy.

Both Guardians locked gazes before Bunny smelled the scent of winter behind him. Before he could react, chains made of sand crawled over his paws and neck, slamming him to the ground. The chains were reinforced with thick ice, making them difficult to break.

"Alright, he's the last one," Jack's voice said. Sandy nodded and raised his hands, causing the sandstorm to collapse instantly. Bunny blinked, a little startled by the lack of howling wind and stinging sand. He saw Tooth suspended in the corner of the ceiling, in the same predicament as he was, but North was somewhere past the range of his vision.

Tooth spotted him and waved a little, her expression sheepish. "Hi," she said.

"Hey," Bunny said, resigned. The chains dissolved as well, and Bunny straightened. "So what was the point of all of that?" he groused, a little irritated. The hall looked perfectly normal, albeit covered in ice and mounds of sand.

He felt ashamed to admit he'd begun thinking of it as a serious battlefield.

North came over and helped catch Tooth as she fell with a squeak, unprepared for the sudden release. "Yes, I admit, I did not quite catch point either," North said, lowering Tooth to the ground. "Was fun, though."

"These guys," Jack complained to Sandy.

"I got ganged up on," Tooth said with a sigh. She looked downcast as she added, "I thought I was doing so well, too." She jumped when Jack stabbed a finger in her direction. The youth looked excited as he said, "Exactly! Sandy and I ganged up on all of you. Why was that?"

"'Cause you buggers don't fight fair," Bunny muttered.

North stroked his beard. "We were split up in sandstorm. Had advantage in numbers, but when we got lost - is what you were saying?"

Jack nodded. "Right. I sent out a bunch of sculptures to keep you guys busy while Sandy and I dealt with you guys one by one." He held his hand out, palm up. "We worked together. We purposely used a strategy that tipped the odds in our favor. We used our individual abilities in a way to make that happen."

"So what you're saying is, we need to learn how to fight together?" Tooth said.

Jack hesitated. "Not quite." He pondered for a bit, when Sandy waved his arms for attention. Sandy formed an image of a man, then of little men running before him.

"Elves would not be of help," North commented.

Sandy rolled his eyes and had the larger man point his finger. Instantly the little men formed neat rows and started marching forward.

"We don't need a general, mate."

"Besides, if we did have some sort of, well, rhythm, it would be bad if our fighting got predictable, right?"

"Is good idea, but does not seem like urgent problem."

Jack groaned, his expression exasperated. His core throbbed a little, the consequences of using his power with his staff broken - or cracked at best. He ignored the pain, instead arguing, "Come on! If you guys could fight more effectively, enemies would be a lot easier to deal with!"

Bunny crossed his arms, offended. "We do just fine," he snapped, ears pressed back in anger.

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, we do!"

The other Guardians watched the argument apprehensively. "Hold on," Tooth tried to interject, but Bunny cut her off. "No, Tooth. He needs to realize that we're good fighters." He glared at Jack angrily. "How much could you possibly know about fighting, anyway?! You're just a kid!"

He spat out the last part, not caring how callous he sounded. Jack was just a kid, he even looked it, so why did he think he was invincible? He clearly wasn't. The empty sleeve flapping at his side was testament to that.

The winter spirit paused, looking at them all.

Bunny frowned, a little put off by Jack's sudden silence. But he continued, "Look, I know I said we sometimes need your help, but we are capable fighters. So you're a powerhorse. That doesn't mean you gotta prove yourself. And power don't equal skill. We ain't exactly without knowledge ourselves."

Sandy's eyes widened and he waved his arms, but no one saw him this time.

Jack looked at the ground. "Just a kid, huh? I guess you guys have lived longer than I have, anyway." He met Bunny's gaze, and the rabbit was taken aback by the youth's hard eyes. "Skill? You can definitely fight. But I think you missed my point. Because the skill you're talking about. Can you apply it with North's sword fighting?"

"Wha?" Bunny said. "What are you -"

"Or Sandy's abilities?" Jack continued, as if he hadn't heard. "Or Tooth's flight? Can you weave your fighting between theirs? Of course not." The youth's face was blank now, the calm before the storm.

Sandy waved even more frantically, but again went unnoticed.

The temperature dropped as Jack added, "So let me guess. Since you can't do that, that's why you all fight individually. And you're not willing to listen to me because I'm a kid?" He laughed, and the sound was so harsh it was ice grating on ice, the bitter cold of winter. "What kind of kid fights dragons and naga? Fought in armies and wars? Raises blizzards so strong they spiral out of control?"

"Those kinds of blizzards shouldn't even be started," Bunny tried, but Jack spoke over him.

"I am the Guardian of Fun because I don't forget the children even when I'm burying countless dead soldiers and broken tents in the snow. I don't forget how a child laughs when they play, even as I protect their homes from beasts that they, the very humans I am fighting for, dreamed into being. Nobody believes in the darkness anymore. Sometimes I wonder if that's not just a little dangerous."

"No hold on here -"

"Not just a little dangerous that the shadows lurk unseen. Not just a little dangerous that the strongest spirits in the world, the Guardians, are such because they protect the dreams of children." He stared coldly at the four. "You forget the burdens of the adults, don't you? That's why I had to become a Guardian."

Surprisingly, Tooth was the first to snap.

Her wings buzzed furiously as she flew in his face, her normally sweet face twisted with anger. "How dare you! After everything we've shown you, after all you've helped us and seen what we do, how dare you! What we do is fundamental to the world! We bring joy to the children! We give them hope and dreams and wonder! We hold their memories!"

Jack stood calmly. "I play with them," he replied. "Play is fun. Fun is harmless." He smiled a little. "Snowball fights are, unsurprisingly, not." He made a mindless motion with his hand before seeming to remember he no longer had his staff.

"Is not true," North said, though he looked rather offended by Jack's earlier words as well. Still, he said peaceably, "Snowball fights are fun, yes? Very safe."

"It gives the illusion of safety," Jack admitted. He waved his hand, and the ice, the frost, and the snow in the hall vanished. Sandy followed suit, and soon the room was as if nothing had ever happened.

Jack held up a snowglobe that he'd nicked during their fight. "I'm going to Burgess first," he told them, tossing the object over his shoulder. "And then I'm finding my staff." He vaulted through the portal, leaving the Guardians speechless.


	4. Chapter 4

He felt inward, searching out the breaks in his soul. His core. It was fundamental to his very being, and tied directly to his staff. Somewhere out there in the world, his staff was in poor condition. He breathed shallowly, even though the pain wasn't coming from his body.

It was so warm. He opened his eyes, staring at the leafy canopy above him. Jack supposed it was beautiful, in a way. Sunlight filtered through the green leaves, while flowers were blooming all over the place. Spring was colorful. Pretty.

Deadly.

Yet, not. Not the way he was now, anyway.

He hopped to the ground, watching as children started to stream out of school. He turned away, disappearing into the woods. He didn't want to see Jamie after the confrontation he'd just had with the Guardians. He didn't think he'd be able to keep his temper in check.

Jack was a little disappointed in himself. He'd thought he had control of himself. That he could remain cold and aloof, even as he laughed and had fun. Why couldn't he keep himself in check?

He hadn't been lying, though.

Blizzards were necessary. Snowstorms were needed. Winter was viewed as the death of the season, but it was more like the sleep. The recovery from the vigor-filled seasons of spring and summer.

Autumn was when the world was put to rest.

Winter was when it slept.

Jack reached his lake and knelt down, dipping his hand in the water. It didn't frost, not even a little. He considered, then poured a little of his power into his hand.

The entire lake froze.

He yanked his hand free and scowled, walking away. This was such a catastrophe. All those decades, centuries, of yearning for interaction, and yet… only a year after he met the Guardians, it all fell apart. Jack walked without looking where he was going, eyes fixed on the soft carpet of grass he tread upon.

An earth-shaking screech jolted him out of his depression. Jack instinctively leapt back, looking up as a large shadow blocked out the sun. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the monstrous bird above him. It beat it's wings, making the trees bend back, as it screeched again.

A roc. Those stupid birds of prey were huge and strong. Like any mythological monster, it liked to eat large animals like whales and the occasional cow, but for some reason it's favorite food was usually humans -

His thoughts strayed to the town behind him.

Burgess.

It was here to prey on Burgess.

Fortunately for him - or more likely, unfortunately - rocs liked the taste of spirits just as much. It's eyes focused on him as the roc opened it's beak, screeching a third time. The sound echoed far, almost deafening him.

Jack blinked.

He smiled. "Hello," he said. He clambered up the trees, hanging on easily though the branches whipped around in the wind. The roc's eyes were as large as his entire body, but Jack looked back at them fearlessly. Frost crept out from his grip as Jack felt his walls crumble into nothingness.

He leapt away as the roc stabbed it's beak in his direction, somersaulting backwards. His feet pressed against the bark as he hooked his arm around the trunk. The entire tree turned into an ice sculpture instantly.

The roc pecked at him, forcing him to twist and tumble, the sound of the wind roaring in his ears. It was so strong, it might be able to pick him up without his staff. He let go, feeling his body get wrenched into the sky. Jack watched the world turn upside down.

He threw his hand out, trailing sparkles of blue. The color of lips when they grow pale, the color of ice in it's darkest depths - and the color of shadows on the purest snow.

As Jack landed behind the roc, he clenched his fist, causing the magic to explode outward in small shards of ice. The roc kicked up a fuss as the ice hit it's feathers, waving it's wings and stomping it's taloned feet as it searched for Jack. He laughed a little as he skipped around on the ground, staying out of sight.

The ground iced with his every step, the patches spreading fast. As Jack darted in, he tapped the roc's leg as he passed by, his touch barely felt. However, the roc screamed with pain.

His power was flowing freely.

In seconds, all the veins in the roc's left leg were frozen. In addition, the cold bit into the bones, cracking them deeply. The roc took to the air, screeching furiously as it's silhouette spread across the sky. Jack looked up as it dove down, beak wide open to swallow him.

Jack slammed his fist into the ground.

The roc dove too quickly. It was unable to react as needles of ice, slim and piercing but incredibly thin, shot up to the heavens, piercing through the roc. A strangled squawk escaped it as blood spurted out of it's breast, painting the ground red with blood.

Yet it was not dead.

"You're immortal," Jack murmured, walking beneath it. The blood froze where he stepped, leaving him untouched. A cold haze of fog lifted from the ground, an unnatural result of his power.

"We all are, aren't we?" He watched the roc struggle weakly, trying to free itself from the needles. But they were strong, and all the roc accomplished was pushing the needles further through it's body. It screamed again before going limp, it's large wings and tail feathers resting heavily on the trees.

He made a sharp cutting motion, and the needles broke apart and vanished. The roc collapsed to the ground with an alarming thud. Burgess was going to have some crazy earthquake readings today - of that Jack was certain.

Softly walking forward, he placed a gentle hand upon the roc's head, feeling it shiver at his touch. Even unconscious, on the brink of death, his cold was too much for it. Jack stroked it's cheek, watching it's eyelids flicker. The roc was truly strong. Normally, it would have taken him longer to defeat it.

Now… don't rocs normally travel in flocks?

He closed his eyes, listening. He could hear screeching, but far in the distance.

"I guess I may as well," he said, as if to himself. "Why not? I haven't got much longer anyway."

* * *

"No!"

Sandy let out a silent sigh. He hated arguing with his fellow Guardians. They tended to ignore his signs and just spoke over him, an easy feat when he made no sound. He formed an image, but Bunny rudely swiped through it with his paw. "If he wants to run off, let him! He said it himself, he's a grown kid! He can handle himself!"

"He's not a child," Tooth added. She looked as if she were on the brink of tears as she shouted, "No child says that! How could he! How - how could he…" The fairy flew in circles agitatedly, biting her lip.

North nodded in agreement. "Is his choice. If he wishes to return, he will. End of story." A yeti came over and said something frantically. North heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Elves are raiding my workshop. I need to fix damage - you should all return to duties too."

Sandy quickly flashed signs at them, but they didn't understand, or they didn't care to look. He almost growled in frustration, with sandy steam coming out of his ears.

His comrades! They were honorable friends, but sometimes Sandy wanted to take them by the shoulders and shake them! He watched Tooth flit out the open window. Bunny left hurriedly as well. They felt guilt and sympathy, but were too stubborn to admit it.

Wait, stubborn might not be the right word.

Prideful?

No. Maybe it was shame. Sandy could sympathize, but he knew some of the fault lay with Jack. He'd done too much, really. He'd said too much. And of course it wouldn't go over well, especially with the way the youth had worded things.

Still, most of the blame lay with the four original Guardians.

They'd been Guardians longer than Jack, and thus had a responsibility to shoulder the youth's shortcomings. They also had a responsibility to shoulder their own weaknesses, which was something they hadn't had to do for, oh, such a long time. Sandy couldn't even remember.

He shook his head. They wouldn't listen. And Jack -

Something was wrong with him.

He'd sensed it during the fight, but perhaps he'd been too eager to demonstrate Jack's point. The youth had been in pain, if ever so slightly, though not from outside forces. Something internal. If Sandy had to hazard a guess, it had something to do with Jack's powers.

Ever since the staff had gone missing, the youth seemed almost imbalanced.

Sandy had thought the staff was the source of Jack's powers. But then, why did the winter spirit seem to be getting more powerful? As if the staff weren't a conduit but a regulator, something to keep the youth in check.

But that was ridiculous.

That meant Jack had to have been born with an insane amount of power, and he would have been way more frantic about finding his staff.

He sighed and grabbed a goblet of eggnog, gulping the whole thing down. Tooth wasn't likely to cave, and Bunny would never admit he was in the wrong. North might be willing to at least lend him a few snowglobes once he'd had time to cool down, but Sandy doubted the Russian would take time off just to go searching for Jack.

There were only a couple hundred days until Christmas.

And the guy was a workaholic.

They all were, really. Sandy noticed an elf trying to lick the dregs from his goblet and yanked it away irritably. He put the cup down before summoning up a cloud of sand. Jack had way too much of a head start, probably miles away from Burgess by now.

Sandy formed his cloud into a fighter plane, setting a course for Burgess. It was a long trip, so boring he actually fell asleep during the ride.

He woke up when his plane crashed into the forest.

Shaking himself awake, Sandy floated upwards, then stared in surprise. Before him, resting on the leafy treetops, was the body of a roc. It was badly wounded, it's blood dripping into large pools of red. One of it's eyelids was partially open, though the eye itself was glazed over with pain.

Sandy showered the poor bird's head with dreamsand before looking around. The culprit was clear - the air was still cold, and ice coated everything in sight. There was even a light mist close to the ground, the remnants of the cold breath of winter.

He could understand why Jack had destroyed the roc. In this state, it would take ages to recover, and would think twice before approaching this particular town again. Still, why was there ice everywhere?

A trail of frost led away from the site. Sandy flew close to it, reaching out to touch it. He thought perhaps he could send his dreamsand along the path, seeking out Jack.

He jerked his hand back.

The air beside the trail was cold - unbelievably freezing. Sandy likened the feeling to the dead of winter in Antarctica, when even the elves knew better than to leave the workshop. One step outside the workshop and they turned stiff and shivering, becoming a popsicle in minutes.

Not ice. This wasn't a trail of ice. This was winter magic, raw and unbridled. Sandy suspected that if he did actually touch it, his hand would freeze.

Which would be a pain, but not the real problem here.

Why was Jack's magic all over the place? Like a faucet left unchecked, winter was left behind in his footsteps.

There was a screech from behind him. Sandy turned to see the roc, apparently awake and ready to move, beating it's wings furiously in an attempt to rise. It's large feathers brushed the icy ground below, and the roc shrieked as the tips of the feathers were suddenly encased in ice.

It attempted to stand, but it's feet suffered the same problem. It pulled and tugged at it's feet, but they remained firmly frozen to the ground. The roc screeched frantically as it bent to peck at the ice, to no avail.

Sandy chuckled silently at it's predicament. He might've felt more sympathetic, were it not for the bird's diet. He cast another handful of dreamsand in it's direction before rising into the air, following the icy blue glow.

* * *

He found the boy half a week later, up on the mountain slopes.

Jack sat upon a single stone. It was dark, the night lacking either starlight or moonlight. The boy had been staring in his direction when he arrived, no doubt alerted to his presence by his golden glow. The first words out of Jack's mouth were, "I guess the others aren't coming, then?"

Sandy shook his head, studying the boy with worry. His skin was pale - but it had been a healthy sort of white before. Now, it was a bluish-grey, and it clung to his bones. In addition, the winter spirit was shivering.

As if he were cold.

"That's okay," Jack said, his voice resigned. Tired blue eyes glinted up at him as the boy added, "You really shouldn't be here either. It's only a matter of time."

Sandy made a clock and a question mark.

"Before I die, of course."

Sandy's eyes widened, and Jack hastened to tell him, "It's not that bad! Really! It's just, I can't find my staff, and it's probably in pieces anyway. That staff is all I have left of my mortal life. I have my clothes too, but they changed with me." His face fell. "Could you tell the other Guardians that I'm sorry?"

Fervently shaking his head, Sandy flew forward, grabbing Jack's hands. He regretted it instantly - the spirit was almost as cold as the ice he inadvertently created - but he formed a map, a staff, and a question mark.

Jack understood. "How was I finding my staff?" he checked. Sandy nodded.

The winter sprite opened his mouth, then flinched and curled in on himself. It lasted no more than a second, but Sandy saw genuine pain on Jack's face. Then the boy relaxed. "I wasn't," he admitted.

Sandy looked around. The mountain was bare, covered in snow and ice. It was completely isolated from any life. Actually, now that he looked closer, the ice was the same that he'd followed. Out of control cold that froze and burned mercilessly.

If Jack had that much power, he probably was dying.

Which would be bad news for anyone nearby. Sandy insistently formed a map, a staff, and a question mark once more.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know anymore." His eyes widened. "Oh. Uh, Sandy, there's kind of a bird. Flock. Behind you."

The word flock had Sandy whirling around, searching the dark sky for figures. A mass was growing in the sky, a shifting, twisting mass that made a faint sound. He could sense they were miles away, which was worrying considering how large they already appeared.

"There they are," Jack muttered. He sat up, eyes bright. "I was looking for them, you know. I lost track of them, but I guess they found me." He staggered to his feet, fists clenching. Sandy looked at the boy in alarm.

Jack looked determined. Sandy could almost feel the magic pulsing beneath the boy's skin, ready to lash out at the flock. Before he could think it through, Sandy formed a ball of dreamsand, throwing it into Jack's face. Jack twitched back, but not quickly enough.

When he collapsed, Sandy caught him. He immediately regretted it.

The boy was really, really cold.

Even though his body was made of sand, he could feel it. He quickly made a bed and laid Jack on it, sighing with disapproval when the bed was immediately covered in hard, unyielding ice.

Alright… Now for the rocs.

Sandy thought for a moment, then summoned up a flurry of manta rays, dolphins, dinosaurs, and swords. He gave a confused look at the swords until he realized those were Jack's dreams. He shrugged, dispelling them. Who needs swords?

Suddenly Jack lurched to his feet. "Stupid… you…" he slurred, leaning heavily on a nearby rock. He glared as best as he could at Sandy. "Rocs… Can't handle a herd of ponies, no chance against…"

He groaned. "Walls…"

Then the rocs descended. Sandy created thick ropes of sand that whipped them away, but their claws and beaks were effective at tearing through. He quickly discovered that rocs were not affected by his dreamsand - something he learned the hard way when he cast out a cloud of the stuff, only to have the rocs shoot through, undeterred.

"Get down!"

Jack tackled him from the side, sending them rolling away. Immediately the boy jumped to his feet, eyes scanning the fight above. Dreamsand cascaded in waves as dream after dream was torn down. Jack yanked Sandy back to the rock.

"Stay here," he said grimly before ducking back out, shooting out a stream of magic. Sandy yanked him back, noticing as he did so that Jack had coated the remaining dreams in ice. He also noticed that Jack's skin was even paler, nearly transparent, with veins of faintly glowing light showing.

Jack was breathing hard. "Make more," he said briefly. Sandy nodded, creating a small army of penguins. A quick touch and they were off in their icy armor.

They sat there for a moment.

"I can't think," Jack mumbled.

Sandy gave him a confused look. Then his eyes widened as Jack's left sleeve appeared to inflate, with a crystal hand emerging from the opening. It flexed a few times before Jack nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

 **Sorry, this chapter's not so good because I lost interest, and it's been a while… The next should be better, I promise. It'll even be funny - not. Get ready for a full-on Guardians vs Jack fight, because I'm tired of Jack always losing.** _ **They**_ **needed** _ **him**_ **for god's sake! Why is he always losing?**

 **No one's dying, though. (:**


	5. Chapter 5

This was new.

He couldn't count the number of times he'd left a battlefield with a limb iced back on his body. There were times too where he couldn't retrieve the limb. He left a battle limping, or crawling, or lying there in pain. In fact, there many times he was actually hiding, because the survivors were looking for him.

Plenty of stray bullets had hit him during the war. Once, a long time ago, a catapulted rock had caught him, smashing him for three days straight until he managed to get free.

Jack opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

This was definitely a first, though. He couldn't remember many times when he had closed his eyes in one place, and opened them somewhere else. Jack Frost didn't sleep. He didn't faint, either.

Although apparently, he had been wrong about that.

He tried to sit up, only to find that he was tied down to the bed. With heavy-duty rope, too. Panicked, Jack froze his bindings and shattered them, leaping away from the bed. What the hell? He instinctively looked around, taking in the wooden floor, the half-frozen wall, and the window.

Er, well, if you could call that a window.

He walked over to the pane of glass, studying the boards nailed to the outside of it. They were painted a cheerful shade of red, which contrasted greatly with the feeling of unease growing in his stomach.

Jack pulled back his right arm, then punched through the glass. It scraped his arm but he ignored it. Instead, he stared incredulously at the wood, which had held. He tried freezing it, only to find his ice wouldn't touch the boards.

They were enchanted for sure. Jack was surprised the ropes hadn't been enchanted too, but then again, oversights were common when it came to spirits. The door was probably enchanted.

The door was not enchanted.

Bemused, Jack froze the knob and broke it, swinging it open slowly. Ice crept out from his feet as soon as he stepped into the hallway, making him relax. He needed the cold. However, he tensed again as he realized he was at the North Pole. That meant the Guardians were the ones who'd brought him here.

That meant the Guardians had tied him up. Jack sighed. He'd thought they were nice people, he really had. Idiots, maybe, who were childish and stupid - did he mention they were idiots? - but still nice. Even caring.

Betrayal was nothing new, though.

He felt his power flowing through him. It wasn't as torrential as he remembered it being, but it felt more natural. Inhaling deeply, Jack called up his power. A wintry breath spilled from his lips, raging down the hallway. Snow, hail, frost, ice - it all flooded the hall. There was enough momentum to cover the entire interior of the Workshop.

Jack narrowed his eyes. Alright. He forced magic out of his shoulder, forming an arm made of pure power, just as he had done when fighting with Sandy. In both hands, scimitars appeared, made of ice. Then he leapt into the rafters, knelt, and waited.

Soon enough someone came barrelling down the hallway. A yeti. He pounced, driving his blades down the monster's back, tearing through flesh and fur. Kicking the thing into the room, he shut the door, freezing shut. A roar of pain erupted from the room, followed by pounding.

Jack flicked the blood off his scimitars, leaping back into the rafters. Jumping from beam to beam, he ignored the other yetis that ran below him, most of them slipping on the frosted floor. Instead, he sought out a better place to fight. A place with lots of room.

He emerged onto a balcony that overlooked the Globe Room. His eyes flashed as winter fell over the railings, the Globe, the tables and floors… In seconds everything was white, obscured by swirling snow.

Moonlight poured through the skylight, but Jack make a cutting motion. Snow gathered up, blocking out the sky. Then suddenly he shot into the air, narrowly dodging a small projectile that smashed into the opposite side of the room. A colorful cloud rose from the impact.

Jack immediately catapulted back down, avoiding another egg bomb. Man, Bunny sure didn't waste time, huh? He weaved, flew, and twisted, trying to make sense of where the rapid-fire eggs were coming from. However, Bunny was moving too, blending into the snow and making it impossible to tell where he was.

Never let it be said that the Easter Bunny couldn't hold his own. For a moment Jack marveled at how Bunny's fur matched a completely different season.

He was a little less impressed when a boomerang hit his arm - his makeshift left arm, thankfully - cutting it clean off. Stumbling, Jack hastily threw himself behind a table, curling up to make himself as small as possible.

The boomerang had sliced off the layer of skin on his shoulder, making it sting. He pulled off his hoodie and used it to staunch the bleeding as he looked for his arm.

It wasn't hard to find. The damn time-bomb Bunny had created was lying right in front of him. He quickly twisted, kicking the arm - which was pure power, remember - up into the ceiling. As it hit the ceiling it burst, a wave of winter magic that knocked him back.

He groaned.

This was going to take a while. He strengthened his scimitar a bit before darting out from behind the table. He caught a glimpse of grey before ducking behind a pole, then abruptly sitting. The boomerang, which had apparently been flying around this whole time, had come straight at his face. It was now planted in the wood above his head.

Of course. Because who needs the laws of physics when kangaroos hide eggs all over the world?

Jack slid across the room, eyes scanning the place. Movement made him reflexively raise his sword, his arm trembling as another boomerang slammed down on his blade. Bunny's face loomed out of the blizzard.

He didn't look much like a friendly Easter Bunny now.

Jack pushed back, then swung low, scoring a cut on the rabbit's leg. Blood ran down the limb, a splash of red on white. Jack blocked another swing, then grunted as Bunny caught him in the side with another boomerang, sending him flying. It was really inconvenient, having only one arm.

However… he wasn't keen on growing another. If it got cut off again, who knew what would happen.

He twirled his scimitar, thinking. He ducked low, then spun past Bunny, tapping the rabbit's paws with a touch so light a person would mistake it for the wind. He didn't stop at the wall, instead pushing off and soaring upwards until he clung to the ceiling.

A slew of curse words reached his ears. Jack looked down to see Bunny hitting his feet. Well, he was hitting the ice on his feet. Six-inch ice that wouldn't melt naturally for a very long time. Considering that Bunny was a spring spirit, it would be a little quicker than that.

Jack adjusted his grip on his sword, then let go of the ceiling, plummeting straight down. Unfortunately, Bunny's kangaroo-like reflexes had him leaning back. So instead of his head, Jack slashed a shallow wound down the rabbit's chest. The blade slammed into the floor and broke.

"Why?" Jack griped, dissipating the now-useless scimitar. He ducked a hook from Bunny, dancing back out of reach. He opened his hand, gathering magic into the form of a crystalline garrote. He launched himself back at Bunny, only to slam back into the ground. He glanced over his shoulder to see a jump rope lassoed around his ankle.

He rolled over, slicing away the rope with his garrote. North emerged from the snow with both swords drawn, the blades glittering dangerously. Jack flew straight up, escaping through the skylight.

The moon was unnaturally bright, with not a single breeze stirring the surface of the North Pole. Jack reached out, pulling the blizzard up from the Workshop to fill the air around him. Winds howled, clouds gathered, and sleet blocked out almost all visibility.

Which allowed Tooth to slam into him.

Jack tumbled backward, righting himself in time to dive as the Tooth Fairy zoomed overhead. He gritted his teeth as she wheeled back around, eyes blazing. He blocked a book, then drove his fist into her abdomen. She huffed, clutching her stomach as she hastily flew back.

He charged forward, keeping the momentum as he aimed punch after punch. Surprisingly she blocked all of them, though she still looked like she was struggling.

He leaned, feinting a punch at her face. When she moved to block him, he shifted, tapping a wing. It froze instantly. Tooth's expression turned shocked as her wing haltingly tried to keep up it's lightspeed pace before failing. She dropped like a stone.

However, she grabbed his garrote, yanking him downwards. Unable to stop his momentum, he crashed into the ground seconds before her.

As he stood, a beam of moonlight somehow made it's way through the storm, shining on him. Jack squinted, looking up at the moon in irritation. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the silhouette of the sleight rising up from the ground. He turned to run, then paused.

No… No, he was tired of running. These stubborn, traitorous idiots were the ones who should be running. Eyes flashing, Jack raised his right arm directly upwards, straining.

The surrounding blizzard funneled upward, coalescing into a tight, swirling column of snow, ice, and magic. He clenched his fist, causing the storm to freeze. Ice crystals hung in midair, ornaments without hooks. Snow elongated and stretched into delicate ribbons of white.

Then he swung his arm down.

With a scream, the wind whipped downward. It smashed down into the Workshop, crashing through wood and rock alike. Tearing through floors, when it finally dissipated, there was an enormous rift in the middle of the Workshop, reaching deep into the earth.

Jack swayed on his feet, feeling exhaustion beginning to creep in.

Three Guardians stood before him. Faintly, he registered shouting. They must be shouting at him. He changed his garrote into a lance, shoving it forward. "Don't come any closer," he warned.

Bunny's eyes widened. "Jack…?"

"I'm not going to go down easy!" Jack shouted. He pulled back his arm, shifting the lance into a spear, before whipping it forward with inhuman speed. It struck the ground in front of the rabbit, stopping him in his tracks. Tooth jumped back while North swiped his swords reflexively.

Jack flexed his fingers, causing the spear to explode in snow right in their faces. Inspired by Bunny's egg bombs. While they were blinded for a short second he lunged, kicking Tooth's legs out from under her while freezing North's hands to his swords.

Then each of them fell flat on their face.

A glow in his peripheral caused him to spin around, coming face to face with Sandy. To his shock, the Guardian of Dreams quickly made symbols - a two, an arrow pointing at each of them, and a sign that he'd seen on exit signs in buildings, a little man running away.

"Are you… still on my side?"

A quick nod.

"I don't want to run."

An insistent tug on the edge of his shirt. Jack vaguely remembered throwing away his hoodie, given to him by North and the yetis. He hesitated.

Then his shoulders slumped. "Where? Where could I - we go?"

Sandy raised both his hands, forming a carpet and tugging Jack down into a sitting position.

"Thanks," Jack said, a smile tugging at the side of his mouth. He leaned against Sandy as the landscape beneath them blurred. "What happened? I don't remember anything. Not after the fight… Actually, that's blurry too."

Sandy shrugged. He made a so-so gesture, then formed an image of a clock.

Jack frowned. "How much time passed?"

The clock turned into a calendar, which flipped through 1, 2, 3… 11 months before it stopped. Then the days were checkmarked until the very last day, which was then circled. Sandy glanced back at Jack with a solemn expression.

"Eleven months and twenty-nine days? Was I really out that long?"

To Jack's surprise, Sandy didn't answer right away. The Sandman nodded, then shook his head, then finally shrugged.

"Sorta, kinda, not?"

Sandy made a dismissive gesture. Forming a picture of the two of them, he then made an image of the other Guardians with an X over them. They vanished in a puff of sand, leaving the two of them in the air. They were followed by a checkmark, a safety belt sign, and a snowflake.

Jack chuckled drily. "Where're we going then? Somewhere safe?" He peered over Sandy's shoulder, confused. "I don't… I don't understand why they attacked me."

A snowflake, replaced by an icicle, which smashed into a Santa hat.

"Ah. Well, they tied me down."

The icicle and Santa hat got bigger before repeating the same action.

"They even enchanted the freaking window. How else was I supposed to get out?"

He swore he saw Sandy's shoulders rise and fall, as if the little man were sighing. Instead of answering, Sandy formed a pillow and patted it, a request for Jack to lie down.

Jack hesitated, then complied with the request. Though his eyes were closed, both of them knew he wasn't sleeping. Sandy thought about sprinkling some dreamsand over the boy, then decided against it. Moon knows they didn't need another scenario like the last one.

* * *

 _He opened his eyes, staring up at the sky. It was white and grey, a blend of clouds and colorless sky. For a moment, his mind was blank. A strange feeling tingled along his skin, almost cold. But, he realized as he began to wake up, he was never cold._

 _It must be very cold, then. Yawning, he rolled over, coming face to face with the dead._

 _He sat bolt upright, startled. He thought he must have been mistaken, but the woman before him was most assuredly dead. Her eyes did not move at all, and her chest remained still. And her skin… much of it was shriveled, blackened, frostbite coating her limbs._

 _Fearful, he looked around to find that he was in a village. Others seemed to share her fate, lying scattered around the square. Windows were coated in such thick ice, seeming more ice than glass._

 _The snow was not disturbed by anything. No footprints marred the white surface, while still more snow fell, piling up endlessly._

 _He knew he'd collapsed here. He recalled flying over, feeling a snapping, a breaking within him. The staff had slipped from his fingers as he fell, darkness taking over. He realized…_

* * *

 _In the middle of a battlefield, he could hear the men yelling desperately. The warriors that shouted at each other, each having family, nations, people whom they wanted to protect. Blades burst from backs, coated in blood. Arrows flew in the air, falling mercilessly on their prey._

 _He avoided what he could, and hid when the fighting got worse. It had only been seconds ago that the field of snow had been pristine, untouched._

 _Now it was littered with the dirty footprints of soldiers, and pools of their blood. Warriors slipped and tripped over their comrades remains, while enemies struggled unyieldingly with each other. It was chaos, it was hell on earth._

 _War takes a very long time, but this was only a skirmish. Soon enough, all lay dead. All but a few, who trudged back with the heavy shoulders of those who know they have more mindless battles ahead, if they don't die soon. As they moved away, Jack quietly moved forward to do his work._

 _He dragged his staff along as he walked, frosting over the bodies. Some could have been sleeping, while others looked every bit the ferocious fighters they had been in life. He summoned the snow, perching on a rock as he watched their bodies begin to vanish beneath the peaceful element._

 _Colder._

 _And colder._

 _The feeling was familiar. Not in a good way, and not in the manner something often done would feel. He felt his walls crumbling a little. He clutched his staff, upset._

 _The conduit should help._

 _He reigned it in, wanting to remain as he was. It was a solemn, silent time that he did not want to disturb. But they cracked and crumbled, flooding his veins. He collapsed, falling to the ground with a thud. He lay next to a soldier who lay face down, limbs sprawled…_

* * *

" _I'm sorry!" Jack cried, taking a step back._

 _The Easter Bunny would not be deterred. "You blew a blizzard all the way across the world!" he raged. "There's a bloody storm in the Pacific!"_

 _Jack winced. "I didn't mean to! It's just, I -"_

" _No, you listen to me. Don't be such a showpony! You just had to ruin my holiday, didn't you? What in the blazes were you thinking? You weren't, were you!" Bunny shouted. "Next time you decide to make it snow all over the bloody world, don't!"_

" _I won't, I didn't -"_

" _I'll find you," Bunny threatened. "Do this again, and I swear you'll regret it!" He opened up a tunnel and hopped down, leaving Jack alone in the forest. A small aster popped up from the ground, but it quickly wilted as Jack reached out to touch it._

 _He slumped in defeat. "I thought I found a solution…" he muttered to himself, clutching his staff. He turned his head, looking at the nearby town through the trees. Burgess. It had always been his home._

 _When it had happened, he'd had time to run. But he was tired of running. So he'd stayed, and tried, and had managed to thin out his burst of power. The Easter Bunny wouldn't forgive another one, though. Jack shook his head._

" _It won't happen again," he swore to himself. "I'll die before it happens. I'll get stronger, and I won't crack. I swear it to the moon, to the sky, and to the stars."_

* * *

A light tap of his shoulder had Jack opening his eyes. He was greeted by Sandy, whose expression looked peaceful. Jack sat up, looking around.

"Wow," he breathed.

What greeted his eyes was the sight of a glittering, golden landscape that stretched on for miles, fading into the distance. Slopes of gold sand dipped into glittering pools of honey-colored liquid. Fantastic buildings rose up from the ground, only to collapse, over and over again.

Some resembled the pillared temples of old, where priests and priestesses would pray. Others were magnificent castles, with turrets, towers, drawbridges, and anything else imaginable.

Jack swore he saw a skyscraper emerge from the sand, though it was quickly hidden by a pyramid made of glistening sand.

He leapt forward, using the wind to boost himself up. Landing on the balcony of a castle, he froze the entire thing instantly, preventing it from returning to the dunes. Excited, he darted inside, eyes taking in every inch of the interior. It was magnificent. Tables filled with goblets, flowers, and food - sadly all made of sand - stood in the dining room while torches flickered in the halls. Windows looked out on the ever-changing landscape, curtains gently waving in the breeze.

"This is awesome!" he yelled, jumping out the window to land in front of Sandy. He grinned. "Is this your home?"

Sandy nodded, his face unreadable. He made a snowflake, an X, a castle, followed by an arrow pointing at the castle he'd frozen.

"Huh? Oh. Is it not supposed to be frozen?"

Sandy nodded.

"Sorry." Jack looked up at the behemoth of a building, thinking. "If I busted that open, it's gonna explode. It's so damn big…" He backed up. "Cover your face." Running forward, he leapt to the top, landing on his hand atop the highest tower. He quickly pushed off, watching as the castle shattered.

Ice flew everywhere, forcing him to twist, tumble, and dive in order to avoid the debris. Jack ducked behind the sand shield Sandy had created. The other Guardian gave him an exasperated look.

"I wasn't thinking," Jack admitted sheepishly. "I'll try not to freeze anything else."

Sandy nodded. When everything settled, he let the sand fall back down. Then he sculpted a small bed, put a pillow on it, and pointed. Then he summoned his regular mode of travel, a cloud of sand, tipped a spontaneously created hat, and flew off.

That was a pretty cool exit. Jack wasn't planning on sleeping, though. He cast his gaze over the spectacular landscape before him, then made a split-second decision.

Sandy couldn't possibly spread dreams all over the world and come back to check on him any time soon. He really, really wanted to see the place. Just for a little bit. Then he'd come straight back. He promised this to himself.

Rising up on the wind, Jack soared into the sky.

* * *

 **I wanted to make the fight more epic, but I'm not good at having them fight magic-to-magic. And the Guardians have weird, inconvenient magic (minus Sandy) that seem overall useless against other magics. Magicks. Magicness. I have no idea how that would be spelled. Anyways, someone commented that they enjoyed seeing Sandy and Jack bonding, so I decided to go with that. But there's gonna be some bonding with Bunny too, so… That'll be fun.**

 **On another note, I'm having fun making Tooth 'mean.' Not like, cruel mean, but just the more antagonistic sort of character. Just because she's always the mom figure or the caring one or the gentle fairy. But she's such a warrior queen too, right? I dunno. Hope you enjoyed!**

 **...This is such a long author's note.**


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